by Greatwesternline »
21 Mar 2024 12:00
Franchise FC Greatwesternline 6ft Kerplunk So losing half of your income wouldn't leave you feeling a bit stressed GWL? Keeping in mind that the 28 year old footballer probably has 4 or 5 years left of earning well before their career ends. I doubt many lower league players waltz into lucrative salaries after they retire just as the rest of us are hitting our prime earning years. Dropping £100K a year now is going to hit that pension pot massively.
It would stress me a bit, but some people on here are saying its worse for footballers than a nurse working in the NHS, which is patent nonsense.
Furthermore, the career of a footballer sets them nicely up for coaching roles in football, punditry, being an agent, working behind the scenes in a former club.
Being a professional footballer sets you up for a life of relatively interesting work at above average levels of salary. No one should lose too much sleep over a top 3 tier footballer losing 3 months pay.
The list of post-career jobs you quote is finite, presumably most are already filled.
The number of players far, far outweighs the number of post-playing jobs available
Reading FC's annual report is interesting in this regard: Number of players = 39.
Number of "football management and coaching staff" = 74
Clubs needs mulitple coaches and managers for every one of their age groups.
They need scouts for scouting transfer targets.
They need scouts and analysts for who they are playing next week.
They need player liaison personnel.
They need sporting directors. They need guest speakers to entertain the executive boxes.
The FA need coaches and managers for all of their age groups.
A lot of this is also required in the women's game too, at each age group. Yes these jobs pay less well than being a footballer, but there are jobs galore in football, and being a former pro opens the doors to these in ways that is much easier than if you come up the hard way, i.e. through doing your badges without a football CV.
This is before you even factor in all the punditry required, including local journalism, not just MOTD and Sky Sports.
Honestly if you can't make a successful career in football having been a professional footballer, your heart probably isn't in it.